IP Protocol V 6: IP V 6

The need to upgrade the Internet to a new version of the IP protocol used to route traffic was identified well before it emerged as the public vehicle for computer communication and information access. The existing version 4 of the IP protocol, in practice the first version as far as most people are concerned, was in danger of running out of addresses, catering for a mere 2^3^2 of them, or just over 4 billion. This is less than the world's population, but more to the point it is less than the number of devices likely to be populating the Internet within a few years, when we start connecting up our toasters and fridges in addition to our mobile phones and PDAs.